Lindsey Renner posing with her cannabis crops at Native Humboldt Farms. Photo taken by her daughter, Isabella Renner.
Native Humboldt Farms, a cannabis cultivation company based in Humboldt County, California understands the importance of empowering Native Americans as an Indigenous-owned business. Founder and CEO Lindsey Renner is an Indigenous woman aiming to pay homage to her ancestors and empower other Native Americans through her work.
Currently, Native Humboldt Farms offers a range of products in dispensaries in California. In the on-site commercial kitchen, they make rosin-infused dark chocolate and gummies. They also offer a relief balm (which Renner raves about), bath salts, and a topical oil. All are rosin-infused, an extract made by using heat and pressure. In addition, the company also offers a line of strains and pre-rolls.
Renner’s Roots
Native Humboldt Farms’ story begins in the 1700s with the Wailaki Tribe, which Renner belongs to. The land she currently farms on belonged to the Tribe long before she started cultivating there. They used the land to grow food and medicine until they were forced off of it. Eventually, in the 1800s, Renner’s great grandmother was able to briefly own the land after white incursion. However, the land had a few different owners after that, taking ownership away from the Wailaki Tribe.
Post from @nativehumboldt on Instagram.
Then, in 2008, Renner and her husband stumbled across the land which now hosts Native Humboldt Farms. They then began to cultivate their own crops, unknowingly returning the land to the Wailaki tribe. Renner later learned about the connection she had to the farm.
She told High Times that while trying to find her identity and connect with her heritage, her father told her the history of the land she now owns.
In that moment, Renner realized the connection she had to her land, saying “somehow my journey with cannabis had led me back to a place that was literally my family’s and really helped me connect with my Native American side,” she told High Times.
Her ties to her land strengthened her bond with her heritage as well as cannabis. Inspired by her ancestors, Renner named the company Native Humboldt Farms after the natives that occupied the land before her.
An Emphasis on Nature
Since Renner began cultivating, her goal was to work with the land to grow cannabis in harmony with nature. In an interview with Emerald, Renner said her reverence for the land sets her apart from other farmers and allows her to create quality cannabis. Instead of adjusting her property to fit her needs, she believes the land presents her with everything she needs.
Renner believes her Native American heritage positively influences her farming practices and how she runs her farm. She looked at her property and asked herself how it could help her cannabis thrive.
“Here is everything I need; what do I need to do to cultivate?” she asked.
Post from @nativehumboldt on Instagram.
She uses the naturally flat lands for farming, using no heavy equipment and leaving the natural vegetation undisturbed.
As Renner explained, nature provides them with everything they require to grow cannabis. For her, there is no need to alter the natural environment. It’s about working together with the surroundings rather than changing the environment itself.
In fact, she actively tries to keep the natural habitat intact and thriving. Renner noted that growing cannabis around the natural plants without disturbing the greenery benefits her cannabis tremendously. She explained that pests that would usually destroy her crops are more interested in the wild blackberries, oak trees, and other vegetation on her property.
The natural plants also act as a habitat for native species, like birds. Renner described the serenity she gets from mornings on the farms, and hears all different types of birds through the morning air. Plus, the birds act as a form of pest control, protecting the cannabis plants from bugs.
Nurturing With Natural Resources
In addition, Renner and her team use the wild plants that grow on their farm to enrich their crops. Renner told Green Wave that she will hunt through the grounds for things like blackberries, apples, pears, plums, and wild grass that are native to her grounds. She uses these natural ingredients as well as organic sugars to make fermented fruit and plant juices, which she then uses as fertilizer for her crops. According to Renner, these natural, home-grown fertilizers enhance her cannabis in strength and potency.
Renner further told Emerald that making her own nutrients enhances the quality of her cannabis. For example, one of her most recent strains tested at around 31% THC.
Renner also credits the use of only natural light for her high-quality cannabis. Native Humboldt Farms is a completely outdoor farm that uses no greenhouses. All of the crops are out in the open, with the sun as their only source of light.
Post from @nativehumboldt on Instagram.
More Than Just a Farm
For Renner, her farm is more than just land to grow cannabis. It holds a connection that inspires her and her work. It also provides her the ability to utilize and benefit from the same land that her ancestors occupied before her. Additionally, it provides for her family and others the same way it did for her Tribe in the past.
Renner explained how enriching it is to be able to look out at her crops and to see the oak trees her ancestors had planted before her. Oak trees were so important to the Wailaki Tribe because acorns were a large part of their diet, she said.
Renner cares for her plants the same way the Native women that came before her did. She believes that nurturing them with the natural resources makes for a more quality product.
Additionally, she understands the importance of genuine love and pride when cultivating, or growing any crop for that matter. She believes there is an energy transfer in cannabis. From farmer to plant, then plant to consumer.
For this reason, Renner puts lots of energy and love into her plants, “and they give it right back,” she told High Times.
This is also why she makes a huge effort to be a part of every step of the cultivation process. In fact, she is head grower and oversees all the planting and harvesting of the plants.
In more recent years when Native Humboldt Farms started manufacturing and distributing, Renner was, and still is, the driving force. She observes the manufacturing process; tests products; and even does her own deliveries. She values the connection she is able to make with cannabis and her ancestors every step of the way.
Post from @nativehumboldt on Instagram.
What’s Next for Native Humboldt Farms?
Renner’s goal was always to find herself and inspire others through her work. She puts her all into what she does, from growing, to manufacturing to delivering, and it shows in her products. As her company expands, she hopes to continue to inspire others, especially Native American women.
She wants to instill confidence in other Indigenous people through her story of making it back to her heritage and taking back her ancestors’ home.
Renner hopes to expand her farm to encompass more of the land that her ancestors used. For example, she’s currently working on owning the farm above the current farm. She explained that the property belonged to the Wailaki Tribe; it was the village and cook site.
In the future, she also hopes to continue to make her ancestors proud, as well as tell the world and other Native Americans “we are still here.”
Hello Lindsey Renner,
Your TRAIL BLAZER to reclain what belongs to you your land your heritige i would love to grow for you on your farm YOUR CROP LOOKS AMAZING
Lindsey i am Steve Barry we all have waited a long time for cannabis legalization it would be an honor to connect with you HUMBOLDT COUNTY has been the foundation of people like me and you RUNNING PLANTS INTO THE WOODS AT 4:00 am and all the other things we had to do to keep a low profile over the years.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR DEDICATION TO CANNABIS my TEACHER was NEVILLE SCHOENMAKER the DUTCH LEGEND CANNABIS SCIENTIST im sure you know of him and his work with cannabis HE started the first seed bank HE CREATED MANY STRAINS he brought skunk #1 one of hes creations to sothern california.
we THANK NEVILLE
PLEASE WRITE BACK
respectfully yours
steve barry